Changes
by Plantress
Summary: After seeing what Hades could have done to the world, the Order of Gaia has send one of it's priestesses to train full time healers to serve Athena, in an effort to make sure the dark future they saw before never comes about.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, this is the first of three parts that will make up this fic. I hope that I managed to keep everyone in character, Shura is someone I don't write a lot of. I look on writing OC's with canon characters as a challenge, both to keep everyone invovled in character, and to prove it can be done well. Hopefull I at least partically succeeded.

******

Sanctuary, Drea had discovered after the Order of Gaia had sent her here to train other healers, was very barren. It was quite obviously a place to train fighters and even with the village down at the edge of Sanctuary there were few amenities in Sanctuary proper. According to some of the residents that she had treated recently, she was lucky to have running water and the barest hints of electricity. Those were apparently things Lady Athena had brought during the repair worked and were convinces that hadn't spread to most of Sanctuary yet.

Despite this, she had to admit there was a rugged beauty in the place. She had taken to exploring some areas of Sanctuary before she got to teaching the trainees she had been given. Mostly it was an excuse to just wander around and clear her head. Teaching was entirely different from being just a plain healer or seer and she found it was easier her for her if she either went for a walk or meditated before they showed up.

As she turned a road that lead down toward some of the more active areas of Sanctuary, including the training grounds, a Saint came into view walking toward the mountain that housed Athena's temple. He paused when he say her, and nodded slightly.

"Healer," he said by way of greeting, then walked on. She nodded in reply. She recognized him at least, he was one of the Gold Saints. That group of Saint were the ones she had had the most contact with so far since she had to make reports to Athena herself and that involved trekking up and down the countless stairs that led through the temples. She nodded in reply, not saying anything else because she couldn't remember his name off the top of her head. He wasn't one of the more talkative Saints and they had only exchanged a few words so far. Yet as he passed her, a flash of white on his upper arm made her pause. She turned and frowned.

"Excuse me, could you wait a second?" She called after him, her words more of an order than a question. The Saint, Shura she suddenly remembered his name was, stopped and looked back at her curiously, which quickly changed to a frown when she walked up and gently touched the bandage she had wrapped around his upper arm. There was a dark red stain on it. "You're bleeding," she said flatly.

"It's just a cut," Shura said as he pulled away from her. She grabbed at his arm as he started to walk away. causing him to stiffen at her touch and frown at her again.

"Let me look at it," she said briskly and reached up to pull the bandage off. He pulled away again.

"It's not worth making a fuss over," he said. "I can deal with it myself when I get back to my temple."

"I'm not making a fuss, I'm being a healer! It will only take a moment!" She argued, pulling at his arm again. He yanked away and almost glared at her.

"I'm a Gold Saint, I don't need to seek out a healer for every little cut and scratch…" he began to say.

"You didn't seek out a healer, I was already here!" she snapped. "Do you really think I would set a good example for my trainees if I let you just walk away?"

"There isn't trainees around here," the Saint said, but he stopped moving and didn't move to stop her when she started tugging off the makeshift bandage.

"Given the way gossip spreads around Sanctuary, they'll still hear about it," she said in response as she examined the jagged cut on his arm. "How did you get this?"

"A rock hit me during training. Like I said, it's nothing."

"It's bleeding, it's not nothing," Drea touched the wound, summoning her own power. She watched the wound close carefully to make sure it was healing right. "All you Saints seemed to take pride in masochistic idiots."

"We do not!" Shura said plainly offended.

"Then why do so few of you actually come looking for healers?" as the last of the cut close she took her hand away and stepped back. "How are we suppose to do our duty when none of you appear to want us to?"

"No Saint will go to a healer for something minor that will heal on his own," Shura said as he examined his cut.

"Minor for you and minor for a healer appear to be two different things," Drea responded flatly. "I know Saints are suppose to be the toughest of warriors but you take it to ridiculous lengths sometimes."

"A Saint must learn to endure anything, it's how we learn to survive. That's how it's always been!"

"Apparently Lady Athena wishes that to change. Otherwise I doubt she would have accepted the Orders offer to train more healers," Drea said in response, "And it's done. Feels much better, doesn't it?" Shura flexed his arm experimentally. She expected him to just walk away but he just looked at her.

"Why did the Order make that offer?" He asked. The question caught her off guard and it took her a moment to think of an answer.

"Because we heard Sanctuary didn't have an healers and we wanted to help," she said finally.

"Why now? The Order hadn't had any contact with Sanctuary for centuries before this."

"It's complicated…" Drea began, then paused when she noticed a pair of the girls she was teaching walking up the path. "Look, if you want to hear all about the history of the Order and it's internal politics you'll have to catch me when I'm not suppose to be teaching." Shura looked up and noticed the girls.

"You're trainees?" He asked her.

"Yes. It's time for me to go back to the duty I was brought here for."

Shura nodded at her. "Very well. Healer…" He paused seeming to search for something and she realized she had never really introduced himself to him.

"Drea," she said. He looked at her in surprise. "That's my name," she explained.

"…Drea. Thank you," Shura said then turned to walk away.

"Your welcome," she said, smiling a little as she heard her trainees start to call greetings at her. She turn toward them, feeling a bit better now that she was reminded why she had come to Sanctuary.

A week later she had nearly forgotten about the meeting between her and Shura. Between teaching her trainees and getting used to Sanctuary she hadn't had time to think about things like that. Her hair had been causing her problems too. It was starting frizz again, and she would have to take care of it soon before it got out control. How was she suppose to represent Gaia and gain respect as a teacher when she looked like a mop?

As she shooed the last of her trainees out of the door, she looked up to find Shura leaning against the side of the building.

"Did you injure yourself again?" She asked, wondering why he was there and hadn't bothered to just walk in.

"No," the Capricorn Saint said as he straightened up and walked over to her, "I was waiting for you to get through with your trainees."

"Oh?" She wondered what he could want.

"I wanted to talk to you. You said to ask you about the Order of Gaia when you weren't busy," he said, crossing his arms and studying her. "Do you have time now?"

"I do…but only if you're willing to come inside. I was looking forward to have a cup of tea and relaxing" Shura nodded and followed her in. She lead him through the large room that served as a makeshift class room and infirmary. There were only a few cots in here, and a desk with a chair at the far end. She lead him through the door covered by the curtain at the end. That lead into the simple room that severed as a combination kitchen and living room for her. "Why the sudden interest in the Order?" she asked him.

"Something that Lady Athena mentioned. Considering how long the Order of Gaia has been around, you've had very little contact with Sanctuary. If anything your Order has been avoiding us. Yet suddenly, here you are. Why the change of heart?"

"You don't trust us?" she asked, rummaging through the small cabinet that she kept her tea things in. After a moments pause she got enough for two. She wondered why he was so interested in this.

"I would like to, but I am curious why your Order waited until after Athena had dealt with Hades to show up. If you're people are so concerned about the welfare of Athena's Saints, why didn't you show up before?"

"Why are you so concerned about why we weren't here?" Drea set one of the cups down in front of Shura, although he didn't make any move to take it as she took a seat opposite him. "Lady Athena trusts us."

"Lady Athena is willing to give anyone a chance. But I'm not Lady Athena and I prefer knowing why another goddess suddenly decided to send her Priestess to help."

"Lady Gaia didn't send me here," Drea said and sipped her tea. Shura gave her a blank look. "I was sent by the Order of Gaia, not by my goddess," she decided to clarify.

"You're Order is allowed to make decisions like this without her consent?"

Drea nodded, curling her hands around her cup. "We don't have much of a choice. As far as we know Lady Gaia is asleep, and has been for as long as anyone can remember," even as she said it, she wondered if was a good idea to reveal that much. But there really wasn't any need to keep it secret. Lady Athena could probably find out that much information easily anyway.

"Then how do you know what she wants for your Order?" Shura slowly coiled his hand around his teacup, frowning slightly.

"We can only guess," Drea took a sip trying to remember the how her Grandmother had described in when she had first joined the Order. "We might not have any direct contact with Lady Gaia, but since it's creation the Priestesses of the Order have always been healers and more than a few possess the Sight that grants us the ability to see into the future. What we do is based on the assumption that Lady Gaia gave us those abilities because she wants us to help people."

"I see," Shura still hadn't raised the cup to his lips and Drea was slightly annoyed that he hadn't even bothered to try his tea. "Helping others didn't include those who served other gods?"

"If you had approached us, we would have been perfectly willing to help!" Drea snapped, setting her cup down a bit harder than she had intended. "The Order of Gaia long ago declared itself neutral and that it wouldn't directly interfere with wars between the gods! Healers can't take sides!"

Shura didn't say anything during her outburst, just listened. "Then why come here now? Isn't this taking sides?"

"No, technically we're only offering aid. Healing and offering to teach others isn't the safe as declaring that we stand with Athena. Even my Order can't do something like that without Lady Gaia's permission," she said, the words that teacher had drilled into her coming easily. I sounded like an excuse.

"So if there is another war, what will happen?" Shura asked as he gave her a rather searching look. "Will the Order of Gaia just abandon Athena again?"

"No," Drea said without hesitation, somewhat surprised by herself. This wasn't something anyone at the Order had briefed her on. If anything, this was a top she had been encouraged to avoid. But now that it was asked, she didn't have any choice in the matter. "We won't fight directly, but we won't just leave as long as there is even a chance there might be need of my abilities."

"Do you mean your Order won't pull out or that you personally won't leave?" Shura sounded slightly amused when he asked that and Drea felt heat rise in her cheeks. She was suppose to be the official representative here and should have know better than to let her own goals override that. But still, she was sure that was the correct views.

"Right now I am the official depreciative of Gaia here, and I'm trusted to make those sorts of decisions. No one who calls themselves a healer would leave when they know someone could get hurt," she responded out loud. "I doubt the Order would say anything against it. Even the most traditional of the Priestess wouldn't want to have what would happen if Athena falls become reality."

"Becomes reality?" Shura set down his cup again. "That's an odd way of putting it."

"Not when you know people who have seen what would happen if Hades had won. There are several priestess who have the Sight, the ability tot see into the future. The bigger the event happening, the more likely it is someone will get a vision of it. With something as major your war with Hades, almost everyone was affected. And because of the way our powers work, some of us go glimpses of futures that _might _happen as well."

"You saw what would happen if Hades had won?" Shura's face seem to close off, his body tensing at the mention of that. She supposed if you had fought in the war the thought of loosing was worse.

"Not me personally. My Sight is very weak, I can only catch even the most confusing bits of the future if I put forth a lot of effort. After hearing what all the other Priestess were experiencing, I'm actually glad of that," Drea said.

Shura nodded in understanding. "I can't blame you for that. Even the knowledge of what would happen if we fell was enough, to be able to see it must have been a heavy burden."

"Keeping heavy burdens is the duty of Priestess. Whether it's the life of someone in our hands or the knowledge our goddess grants us, it's the same thing," Drea said softly, staring at last bit of tea remaining in the bottom of her cup, before looking up smiling slightly. "I suppose the world owes you Saints for making sure our visions were just warnings, not actually visions of what the future was."

"Thank Lady Athena instead," Shura replied, a very small grin lighting on his face. Even that brought a subtle change to him, making him appear not as intimidating. But it was gone quickly as he returned to what she thought was his normal, rather serious face. "But are those visions the reason the Order of Gaia came to Athena?"

Drea thought about that. Despite all the arguments and reasoning and meetings that it had taken to get here, the answer really was very simple. "Yes," she said. "Can you really blame us?"

"No," Shura responded after a moments thought. Drea almost wished he would give that small smile again. He looked much better that way.

"Well, did that answer your question?" She asked him, almost hoping to see that tiny smile again.

"You did, and I thank you for that," Shura said, standing up. Drea found herself rising as well, half wanting him to stay. This was the first time she had had an actual conversation with one of the Saints and she didn't' want it to end just yet.

"So you trust me…us now?" She said, wanting to prolong things a little more.

"..I trust your intentions at least," Shura answered and Drea couldn't help smiling a little herself when she realized he was using that tiny grin again. He looked much more striking that way.

As she showed him out Drea enter over her conversation with Shura. It had been rather enlightening, but Drea still wasn't sure what to make of it, or of him. She had enjoyed it though and as she watched him leave she decided she would have to find a reason to speak with the Capricorn Saint again. It would be nice to have someone to talk to while she was here, and there was nothing that said she couldn't make friends while she was here.

"Healer!" A shout came from the main part of the building behind her and she turned around, hurrying into the infirmary. Drea hurried back to her duties, putting the Capricorn Saint out of her mind as she helped a bleeding guard to one of the cots.

A few day s later, Drea set out on her walk feeling a little tired. Last night she had been woken up at around midnight to deal with a trainee that had been pushing himself to hard, and managed to severely injure his hand along with nearly exhausting himself to death. She had managed to heal him, but the fact that he was so young, younger than her little brother Jason, had left an impression on her. To know Saints started when they were children and that the training had a very high mortality, but having to deal with the consequences of it was another thing entirely. At least she would make sure this trainee wasn't one of those that died. She had closed his physical wounds, but the only thing she could do about his exhaustion was order him to rest in the infirmary. Thankfully he was so exhausted that she didn't think he would even be able to move for at least another day, although she would have her hands full then, since he would  
still need several more days of rest and if the trainees were anything like the full Saints she had treated so far, he wouldn't want to listen to that part.

But that was for later. Right now, she was more worried about what she would do with her students. Normally she would run through the meditation and focusing exercises in the infirmary itself, but considering how exhausted the trainee was, she didn't want to take a chance that anything would wake. Her students, mostly young girls with a couple of boys thrown in, always managed to make noise. She could try holding the classes in her living quarters, but that was so small she wasn't sure if there would be enough room for everyone.

"I could try holding a class outside..." she mused allowed. But then that would require find a 'where'. She would need a quiet place well away from everyone...and she didn't know Sanctuary well enough to be able to be sure they would be left alone. Drea frowned slightly, running over to the places she knew in Sanctuary in her head. None of them seemed to work!

It wasn't until she nearly ran into someone that she realized how lost in thought she was. "I'm sorry.." she said, taking a step back looking to see who she had run into. "...good morning Shura."

"Good morning Drea," the Capricorn Saint responded looking slightly amused. "In a hurry this morning?"

"Yes, and no.." She answered, getting an idea. "You've been at Sanctuary a long time, haven't you Shura?"

"Nearly all my life, why?" Shura gave her a curious look.

"Then do you know a quiet place I could hold classes in? I need a place to take my students to and I don't know Sanctuary well enough to judge where a good place could be," she asked glad she had run into him. This might solve her immediate problem and it would give her an opportunity to speak with Shura gain.

"I think there are a few places around that might work for you. But why do you need it now? I though you had a place to hold lessons," Shura said after a few minuets thought.

"Could you show me a few of them? I'll explain as we walk," Drea replied, wanting to find somewhere _before _ her students started arriving. "Do you have time to do that?"

"I do…come with me," Shura started down a path and Drea followed. She explained about the trainee as the went, finding herself become rather heated as they walked.

"…guards fond him collapses and brought him to me. He was completely exhausted, his hand were almost in shreds and I'm still not sure what he was doing or what pushed him to go that far!" The boy hadn't even woken up when she healed him. She had never seen someone _that _exhausted before or with injuries that severe.

"If he's training to be Saint it's understandable that he wants to push himself. It's not unheard of for trainees to collapse," Shura said. "To many become a Saint is the only thing they have, and their break their limits to get there."

"But that's crazy!" Drea protested, shocked by the thought. "Is that why so many trainees end up dead? What makes them risk their health and even their lives like that?"

"Because becoming a Saint is worth any price to them," Shura said without hesitation as he lead her into a wide open area. "We're here."

Drea glanced around quickly. This was a quiet spot, a clearing by a cliff with a single tree growing near the edge. "Worth their lives?" she said, wondering about the way Saints thought.

"Yes," Shura said firmly. "To a Saint Athena is everything. Our very lives and existence belongs to her."

"Hmmm…" Drea frowned. There were Priestess who held Gaia as the most important things in their lives, but even that devotion seemed to pale in comparison to what the Saints had. Was it because Athena was a living goddess and actually could directly affect those who served her?

"Will this area do?" Shura was saying and Drea realized her mind had wandered.

"I think so," Drea admitted, but she really didn't walk away yet. Besides, she did have some time left before her students would actually. "Didn't you say you could think of more than one place that could work?"

"Yes…"

"Then do you have time to show me somewhere else that could work as well?" She said thoughtfully. " It would be nice to have more than one place to fall back on and this might help me get to know Sanctuary better."

"Shouldn't I be the one asking _you _if you have time for his? You're the one who has students to teach," Shura answered, raising an eyebrow at her.

"As long as it's close I still have time to get back," Drea replied. "Is it nearby?" Shura had to pause to think about that.

"Fairly," he answered at last. "if we leave now."

"Then lets get going," Drea said firmly and motioned for him to lead the way. He nodded and they set out again. They passed near the training grounds, and for the first time Drea actually paid attention to how brutal some of the fighters were towards each other. "Are you like that?" She asked aloud.

"Hmm?" Shura frowned back at her.

"Is being a Saint worth your life?"

"Yes," Shura said without any hesitation at all. Drea frowned again, considering this information Although she had known in the abstract how brutal and loyal the Saints could be but she had never considered how it would affect her work here before. Well, she had known that there would be injuries but she hadn't had a clear view of the scale of them. She was beginning to see why Lady Athena had accepted their help so fast.

"Drea? We're here."

"Oh, thank you.." the priestess glanced around. This was just an open area behind a grouping bolders. It wasn't as big as the first area but it did offer some privacy.

"Well?"

"I'll consider it," Drea said, then glanced at the sun. "I should be getting back. Thank you for doing this."

"It was nothing," Shura replied. "I hope you have good luck with your students."

Drea nodded, then thought of something. "Shura, would you have some spare time later, when I'm done teaching?"

"Maybe…" Shura gave her a curious look. "Why?"

"I want a more detailed tour of Sanctuary, just so I know where everything is. I was wonder if you would be willing to do that, Drea explained, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. She wondered why such a simple request was getting a blush from her. "I could always ask someone else if you're going to be busy ." That caused a tiny twang of disappointment go off. She would like to see him again, although she would ask someone else if he couldn't. She did need to learn her own way around and stop relying on the Saints to help her.

"I think I can do that," Shura answered as she as pondering that. She couldn't help smiling a little.

"Great," Drea said. "I need to check on my patient after class, so if you could meet me down by the infirmary that would be ideal."

"Then I'll meet you there later today," Shura replied.

"See you then, and thank you. Now if you'll excuse me…" Drea turned and walked away, hoping her she hadn't left to abruptly. But she had to. Once she was sure was out of the Capricorn Saint's sight, she broke into a run. That had taken more time than she thought it wouldn't' and she wouldn't' get back in time if she didn't hurry. She couldn't let herself be late. Not only would it set a bad example for her students but it would give the wrong impression to the rest of Sanctuary. She, and the Order of Gaia were here for a reason. She wouldn't let her behavior distract anyone from that.

******

Hours later Drea made her way back to the infirmary, feeling slightly exhausted. While some of her older students had managed to somewhat adjust to the change, almost all the younger ones were to upset and various over the sudden change to achieve any sort of focus. She was used to dealing with her young cousins and some of the younger members of the Order but they were all much better behaved than her students were when they were outside like that!

Logically she knew that the priestesses in training would have had _years _of training instead of the month or so of basics she had hammered into her students. It didn't stop it from being any less trying. She pondered telling Shura she was to tired to go on a tour of Sanctuary. It would mean missing out on walking with him, but a cup of tea and a little peace and quiet sounded appealing right now.

Walking inside the infirmary to check on her patient made her freeze in surprise. She would have sworn that there was no way the trainee would have been able to wake up before nightfall at least but not only was he awake but he was trying to get out of bed.

"What are you doing?" she snapped as she rushed over to push him back down. He slapped her hands away and tried to continue what he was doing. Drea frowned and darted forward to push down on his shoulders. "You need to stay down!"

"I need to get back to training!" the boy snapped back, pushing red hair out of his face. "It's already late, my Master will know I've been slacking off! I can't just lay around here anymore!"

"You're exhausted and you can barely stand, you are in no shape to be training! You are going to stay right here!" She tried to give him another shove, but he pushed her away.

"Why do I have to listen to you?" He growled, looking annoyed. Drea managed to right herself after the shove and draw herself up annoyed.

"I am a Priestess of Gaia and a healer appointed by Lady Athena herself. If I say your not fit for physical activity, then you had better listen to me," she said with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Says who?" the trainee sneered. "You aren't even from here, and you aren't a warrior at _all_, anyone can tell that. My Master is the only one I'm worried about. He won't like it if I don't show up just because I listened to some _healer _," he almost spat the last word at her. She bristled, glaring at him.

"I can deal with your Master…" she began but the trainee burst out laughing before she was finished.

"_You_ deal with him?" the trainee snickered. "How could someone like you do that?"

"I'll find a way," she said firmly. "Now you are to stay here while I…" The door she had half shut when she walked it opened with a bang. She jumped and whirled around. There was a tall figure, a man standing in the door. "May I help you?" she said, slightly annoyed at the interruption.

A sharp intake of breath came from behind her, "Master!" the trainee whispered. Drea frowned, but walked forward to meet the man who had just walked in. As she got closer she realized he was the Cancer Saint. He fixed her a piercing stare.

"You can tell me where my student is," he growled.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's part two. Originally I was going to have three parts only, but then I realized it would better pace the story if I created two chapters instead of making part two into one long chapter. So now there will be four parts.

*****  
As Shura watched Drea walk away he wondered why he had agreed to show the healer around Sanctuary. Her request had been legitimate though, and she wasn't entirely uninteresting. At least it would be something different to do this afternoon. Normally it as just spend training or in his temple. Playing tour guide would be a change.

He did train while he waited for her to finish with her students, and made a quick trip back up to his temple to get cleaned up before heading down the infirmity she had been given. Even if she hadn't come back from her teaching yet, he could still wait for her…and maybe find out more about this trainee she was making a fuss over.

As he neared the infirmary, he was surprised to feel Deathmask's cosmo nearby, and even more surprised when he got closer and realized it was coming from inside the infirmary. Surprised was replaced by worry when he realized that Deathmask was agitated and very annoyed about something.

He picked up his pace a little. There were perfectly logical reasons for Deathmask to be there. If he had been injured in a sparring match he could have gone for healing. It would explain why he was annoyed, particularly if he had lost, but he doubt it was anything so innocent. Deathmask was not the sort of Saint to go to a healer, he would trust in his own abilities and not want to admit to the weakness of needing help even if his wound was serious. So why was he here? He couldn't imagine Deathmask just going to say hello to the new healer, not without serious prodding and not when he was as annoyed as he was now. So for whatever reason he was there, it probably wasn't good. As Shura neared the entrance he started to hear raised voices…and one of them was that of a young boy. Suddenly he remembered Drea complaining about an exhausted trainee and he groaned aloud. Of all the trainees, why did she have to pick Deathmask's to get protective over?

"……he's staying right here!" He heard Drea's voice before he reached the doorway, and poked his head in to find her standing in the middle of the room , arms crossed, trying to stop Deathmask from advancing further…or she might have been trying to stop the boy from getting passed her. He certainly looked like wanted to.

"No I'm not!" The boy snapped, he tried to hobble forward a few paces. "I'm fine Master, I'll be out of here as soon as I.."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Drea turned to snap back at him. "You are going to get back into bed!"

"No, he's coming with me," Deathmask snarled. "He can walk and he's not dying, so he's going to get back to training!"

"He's exhausted, and he needs to rest!" Drea said firmly, almost glaring at the Cancer Saint. "He's already been injured and still need to recover from that as well! If you push in the condition he's in now he will, most likely, end up seriously injured at least and dead at the very worst!"

"If he dies then he isn't worthy to be a Saint," Deathmask said. Drea looked at him in shock.

"Aren't you his Master?" Drea said when she found her voice. "How can you say that?"

"Easily," Deathmask answered. "I don't waste my time with weaklings. If he has to hide behind a healer just because he's tired then than he's not worthy to be a Saint, or even be alive."

"Would you listen to yourself?" Drea half-whispered shocked. "You're talking like a monster!"

Deathmask just laughed. "May be because I am one," he said. Drea stared at him then her hands clenched.  
"Leave," she said quietly but very firmly.

"What?" The tone of Deathmask's reply set Shura on edge, but he was curious as to how Drea would deal with this.

"I said leave," she said a little louder this time looking at Deathmask directly. "If that is your attitude then I don't want you here. Please leave. Now."

"What gives you the idea that you can tell me what to do?" The reply from the Cancer said was quiet but there was a menacing quality to his voice that made Shura tense. Drea had heard it to and she moved her arms, planting her hands on her hips and tried to look stern, although how tense she was ruined the effect.

"I am the healer here, appointed by both my Order and Lady Athena herself. In this infirmary I hold more authority than you and I am tell you to leave right now," Drea had her head raised and looked rather proud of herself. But Shura felt the change in Deathmask cosmo, from mere annoyance to anger.

"You think you can order a Saint order around?"

"Here I can and I believe I just have," Drea said firmly. Deathmask growled, and his cosmo flared around him. The faint golden aura was something even Drea could see and she stumbled backwards a mixture of shock and terror flashing across her face as Deathmask started to raise his hand.

"Enough Deathmask," Shura said, quickly stepping up to grab the wrist of his fellow Gold Saint. Deathmask turned to glare at him.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

"Stopping you," Shura replied. "You aren't suppose to use your powers for personal reasons, Deathmask."

"You think I'm going let her get away with ordering me around?" The challenge in Deathmask's eyes as more than enough to assure Shura that the Cancer Saint would most likely attack him unless he did something.

"She's under Athena's protection and we have an agreement with her Order. Do you really want to be the sole person responsible for wrecking that alliance?" he said quietly. Deathmask glared at him.

"Do you think I care?" the Cancer Saint snapped at him. But the other Gold Saint had frozen, clearly thinking about this. Shura wasn't sure he trusted Deathmask. Even after their battle against Hades and their subsequent revival, Deathmask didn't seemed to have changed that much. But he wasn't a fool either, so after a moment Deathmask yanked his arm away.  
"She isn't worth the effort anyway," the Cancer Saint said walking away. "Just make sure that woman knows that if she messes with my student again, she'll regret it."

Shura watched the Cancer Saint depart, before turning back to the inside of the infirmary where Drea was busy arguing with the trainee.

"Get back to bed, now!" The healer had her grabbed one arm of the trainee and was attempting to steer him back to bed, but he was trying to shake her off even though it looked like he was leaning on her for support at the same time.

"Leave me alone! I don't need any more of your help! Master Deathmask will never forgive me for this!" Even as he stepped forward Shura had to admit the trainee was right. His case was far from unusual among the trainees and Deathmask wasn't the only teacher who would be annoyed at having their teaching methods interfered with.

"Drea," he said simply. "Let him go."

"What?" She turned to him in shock. "He can't, he can barely walk! He is going to stay here until I say he's actually had a chance to regain his strength!"

Shura didn't respond to that. He just gently took Drea's arm and pulled her aside. "Go," he needlessly to the trainee. The boy was already limping out.

"Hey!" Drea tried to tug herself free and he let her do so, but quickly stepped in front of her to keep her from going after the trainee. She took a step back when she nearly bumped into his chest. "What do you think you're doing?" She demanded glaring up at him. "You don't have any right to stop me like this!"

"You're right, I don't," he said to her. "Just like you have no right to judge the way a trainee is taught."

"I do when it's killing him!" she protested. "It's my job to make sure he's……!"

"Your job is to train healers for Sanctuary," Shura said flatly as he cut her off. "Not try to save every trainee that comes in that door. I'm sure most Saints are perfectly happy that you're willing to help when they come looking for it, but if keep repeating acts like today people are going to get annoyed."

"Annoyed over what? That I'm not letting them work their trainees to death because it's wrong!?" There was an edge to her voice that hadn't been there before when she talked to her and she was clearly shaken. But that didn't mean he had to be soft on her. If she couldn't understand this or his words broke her then she didn't belong in Sanctuary.

"Again, why do you have the right to decide that? You're a guest here in Sanctuary and you don't have any right to disrespect customs that we have kept for several thousand years. Become a Saint is harder than you can imagine, that is why the training is so harsh. You aren't a warrior Drea. Don't act like you know what it means to be one."

"Watch how you talk to me!" the Healer growled, glaring at him. "Maybe I'm not a warrior, and I may not go out and fight but I do have my own battles to fight. You have to take lives but I'm the one who saves them! Don't you dare pretend that isn't important!" She almost growled the last part, actually stepping up to jab him in the chest with her finger. He gazed down on her startled.

"I never claimed it wasn't," Shura said, trying to keep his voice even. "But there are other Saints who will say that. They think we don't need healers, least of all one that knows nothing of fighting." Not to mention that Drea was different from the Amazons. She was softer, and far curvier than the Amazons, and she didn't wear a mask. He wondered if she knew that worked against her with some of the Saints and trainees that object to Athena accepting outside help from any source.

"How could they think that? You have people getting hurt everyday here! If you just had someone here to take even a small part of that pain away..!" Drea sounded annoyed but she had stepped back from him.

"That might help, or it might not. Saints have survived until now with no healers being present in Sanctuary at all. Some see relying on them as weakness, others don't like the thought that Athena has to rely on outside help." Shura explained. He wondered if anyone had explained anything about what Sanctuary was to her before her Order had sent here. He didn't think it was much. Sanctuary didn't let much information about itself make its way to the outside world.  
"I know that some of them don't like me because I wound their 'manly pride'…" she began.

"It's more than that!" Shura said impatiently. "It's about pride both as a man and as Saint. In battle we have to be able to bear pain."

"So you'll walk around bleeding when you aren't in battle to toughen yourselves up?" Drea snapped. "That's just plain stupidity! Maybe we can't go out onto a battle field but a healer can help plenty of other ways!"

"Then try showing them that!" Shura said in response. "Show them that a healer can actually be useful, but not by trying to change the traditions Sanctuary has lived by for thousands of years. You'll only annoy Saints and trainees alike if you go out trying to stop everyone from getting hurt. Some of the Saints themselves will take things like Deathmask did, and there won't always been someone here to save you if that happens. Annoy enough of them, and Athena might just decide that it's too much trouble to keep the alliance with her your Order, Priestess."

The last of his words seemed to have gotten through to her although wasn't sure if the threat on her life or the threat to her Order that had finally gotten through to her. She looked thoughtful for a minuet before speaking again.

"So I'm here for now reason? I'm supposed to just sit back and watch because it's the way things have always been? I can't just do nothing Shura," she meet his gaze seriously.

"Maybe that's all you can do," he said in reply. "I can't tell you how to do your duty, only the truth of what will happen if you don't stop to think."

"I can see that," she said at last. "Look Shura, I'll thank you for helping me, but I don't think I can play tourist right now. Could we do that tomorrow?"

"Sure," he said, not entirely certain that she would even been her tomorrow. As he said his goodbyes and headed out, his last glimpse of her was the healer heading back to her rooms with a slight frown. Sanctuary was a hard place, for anyone that choose to live her. He wondered if Drea was even strong enough to survive it.

*****  
Drea's first reaction when she was finally alone was to go make a cup of tea. That always seemed to calm her. It was harder than it should have been this time since her hands kept shaking. She wasn't sure it was anger for what Shura had said or if this was a reaction left over from suddenly facing down a Gold Saint who had wanted her dead. She wasn't sure she really wanted to know which it was either. Making the tea helped keep her mind off things but once she had actually had it done and was sitting down wit the cup in front of her, she was forced to consider the danger she had been in.

Although all Priestesses were acquainted with danger, healing took your own energy to do and if you poured too much of it into the patient you risked loosing your own life, she had never had her life threatened by another person. It was a strange, and unpleasant, feeling to know that there were people who would, and could with very little effort, kill her or hurt her badly. It was a risk she hadn't considered when she had been asked to come here. Dealing with stubborn Saints and goddesses, training children who had no idea what cosmo or healing was...she had been prepared for all those. She had even been prepared for people threatening her and knew she could deal with that, but she had never been face to face without someone who would actually carry through with the threat before. Cancer Deathmask...that had been one of the most frightening encounters in her entire life. Even if Shura hadn't said that Deathmask might have killed her, she would  
have known that. The look in his eyes had clearly said that he didn't care about what happened to her and that he only saw her as an object in his way. This was the first time she had ever meet someone who was willing to kill so easily.

Her mind had known that Saints were warriors, trained to kill since childhood. But she had never expected to see that killing intent directed at her. It was terrifying to think of. When she thought about just how close she had come, she shivered in fear. This had turned our far more dangerous than she thought it would be.

Could she really do this? Deal with the thought that she might be threatened or hurt each day? So far this was the first threat she had received but if Shura was correct it wasn't going to be the last. Not to mention the fact that her effectiveness was going to be vastly decreased. A healer's duty as she saw it was to try and prevent injuries as well as heal them. How could she do that when she had just been shown that most of the Saints, and even trainees, were going to be resistant to her interfering at all? They resisted change more fiercely than anyone else she had ever met. How was she supposed to really do anything to help? She couldn't just sit by and let people die because that was how things were done! But Shura did have a point, if she started interfering to much she would annoy people and they would be even more resistant to any help she could provide.

Drea took a sip of her tea, which made her make a face since it had gone cold. But she drank it anyway. Could she deal with her duties here? More to the point, did she really want to? No one in the Order would blame her or slight here if she said she felt threatened here. She wasn't the only one who had volunteered to come here. Maybe someone who wouldn't take what was happening as personally as she did. Perhaps they wouldn't care that they were apparently barely tolerated, barely noticed, didn't get any thanks for what they did and were threatened for what little they did manage to do. Maybe they wouldn't mind the students who knew nothing about cosmo and were too impatient to learn and caused endless frustration. She had already wondered why she was here before, did she really wanted to stay somewhere were she received almost no recognition for her work and was under appreciated?

Drea gazed down at her cup. Going home might be possible, but why had she come here? Was it for the respect or the acknowledgement? She could never remember those being factors for her before. Truthfully she hadn't expected anything like that. She had come here because she thought she was needed. True they Saints had just proven that they didn't want her services...or more to the point that they didn't want to accept her help. But could she really shrug and give up so easily? Yes, she supposed Shura was right and she couldn't change everything but she couldn't just turn and walk away. What sort of person would she be if she gave up just like that?

This would be work, hard work, but she wasn't going to shy away just because of that. When she had agreed to come here she had accepted all the responsibilities such a decision entailed.. Besides, retuning home would be the same as admitting that she had failed and that was something she would never do. The Order had decided that she was the best person for this job. If she left then wouldn't that be showing the Saints how weak both she and her Order was?

That was something she could never, ever do. Maybe they weren't fighters or warriors but her Order was strong in its own way. They had survived millennia of having no protection like Sanctuary, or even a single place beside their hidden temple to hide in. They had managed to rebuild themselves after their Order was reduced to a handful of Priestesses forced into hiding. How could she run away from a little hardship?

Perhaps her Order would forgive her and even understand why she had left, but she doubted she would ever be able to really forgive herself for abandoning the duties she had been sent her for. Yes, they might choose to send someone that was perfectly willing to ignore the trainees and only do the exact duty they had been sent her for, but would that really be the best thing? What would it say about the Order as a whole?

No, she couldn't let that happen. Whoever they sent might not care to put forth the effort to help the trainees. Maybe she couldn't use straight forward methods but she would follow Shura's advice and try to find more s subtle ways of helping them. Maybe it was outside of what her duties were supposed to be, but it was what she felt was the only right thing to do.

**********

Shura had decided to wait for Drea by a rock that was a little way away from the infirmary. He was easily visible here, and he didn't feel like making Drea feel she had to stay if she really wanted to leave. It wasn't that he wanted her to leave or fail, but if would be kindest to let her if she wanted to go. This was a life only for those who chose it.

He was actually surprised when he saw her heading over to him, rather purposely.

"Hello," she said. She looked serious but not scared or like she was trying hurry anywhere.

"Hello Drea," he replied looking her over. "Do you still want to do this?"

"You mean the tour or staying here?" She asked, giving him a stern look. "Were you trying to chase me away? Is that why you had to bring all that up?"

"I brought all of that up for your own good. You needed to hear it," he said. "Whether you chose to stay or go was your own business. I would rather you left than end up dead."

"You really think it will be that easy to get rid of me?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You wouldn't be any challenge to a Saint if they wanted you gone," he said. "But I'll admit, I'm surprised your still here."

"Of course I am," the healer replied, raising her chin proudly. "I have a duty to fulfill here. I'm the sole representative of Gaia here, and I can't shame my Order my running away when things look like they might be tougher than expected. I can't just walk away, not when I'm needed here."

"I wouldn't say you were needed," Shura said. "But Athena think that you will be useful."

Drea's eye flashed "I'll prove that Healers are more than just useful. I'll make a difference with the trainees, even if I have to find some round about way to do it."

"You're not going to give up?"

"Never," Drea said with conviction. Shura tried not to smile. He didn't think that Sanctuary would ever actually need to have Healers around but it would be interesting to see her try and to see how far she could go with it.

"Then are you ready to see more of what Sanctuary is so you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"I wouldn't be here otherwise, lead the way!"

Shura set out, watching Drea out of the corner of his eyes. She was different from the female Saints yes, and was maybe a bit stubborn but he realized he rather liked those things about her. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she didn't do anything stupid again.


End file.
